Sugar-cane, Cotton, and Tobacco 229 



Early plowing on clay soils is an advantage, as the freezing in 

 winter aids in pulverizing the soil. If the land becomes too 

 compact before planting time, it should be plowed again or 

 disked. Sandy land should not, as a rule, be plowed too early 

 on account of the tendency of plant-food to leach away. All 

 fall-plowed land should have a cover-crop to prevent the loss 

 of fertility by leaching and washing. This land should be 

 plowed again in the early spring ; this gives the green plants 

 time to decay somewhat before the cotton is planted. Deep 

 plowing is advised as it gives more room for the roots. If, 

 however, the land has always been plowed shallow, the depth 

 should be increased gradually, because too much subsoil thrown 

 up by the plow is a disadvantage. 



Ridging the land. Fields to be planted to cotton are usually 

 ridged, four or more furrow slices made with a one-horse plow 

 being thrown together to form a bed three or four feet wide 

 and several inches higher than the furrow between them. 

 If fertilizer is to be used, a furrow is plowed in the middle of 

 the space where the bed will be made and the fertilizer placed 

 in it. Later the ridge is made and the seed planted in a row 

 above the fertilizer. 



Date of planting. The time of planting is controlled largely 

 by the usual date of the last killing frost in the region. As 

 this date varies in different sections, the time of planting 

 cotton also varies. In the northern part of the cotton-belt, 

 planting is often not done until May. In the southern part 

 it is generally begun in March. 



Planting the seed. Most of the cotton is planted with a 

 one-horse planter (Fig. 208). The usual depth of planting is 

 from one to three inches; on cloddy, dry soils the depth is 

 deeper than in well prepared moist soils. From a bushel to 

 a bushel and a half of seed an acre is usually sown. If the 

 seeds all sprout, this provides too many plants, but the sur- 

 plus are later hoed, or " chopped," out. The plants are left 

 from twelve to sixteen inches apart in the row after thinning. 



